A New Anchorage in Adams Harbour

August 25th (Sunday)

We were up at 06:30, and pulled up anchor from Codville Lagoon at 07:15.  The fog was just starting to break up and shortly after, the sun appeared above the mountains. 

Of course the fog was thicker out in Fisher Channel, but it cleared around 10:00.  We did not see any whales on the trip, but we had a beautiful motor across glassy calm water to Hakai Passage at the north end of Calvert Island.  

When we rounded the corner into Hakai Passage we got into the swells from the open ocean.  When we had had our storm a few days ago the wave forecast had been for 5-6 meter swells, but the residual swell was now down to 1-2 meters.  Some were definitely on the larger side and our speed would fluctuate by about one knot from the up side to the down side of the swells. 

We came into the area of Adams Harbour where Jason and I had anchored last time we were here, about two weeks ago.  Instead of anchoring in the bay to the southeast of Donald Island we decided to anchor on the lee side of Starfish Island.  It was a beautiful spot surrounded by islands with shorelines made up of geometric puzzle-piece rock faces, interspersed with hidden bays filled with kelp and beaches.  The beaches of Calvert Island -- Sand Spit, Wolf, Little Wolf, North, and others -- were our backdrop looking towards Calvert Island.  

Once we had our anchor set in an area clear of kelp, my parents went out kayaking, and Jason and I went out in Kiki to set our traps.  We put out one crab and one prawn trap, both in about 350’ before heading to the beach.  We enjoyed a walk along Wolf beach before heading home.  After the fog had cleared in the morning it was a beautiful sunny day! Such a treat!  It was our first day without rain in over a week. 

A beautiful day and area to go kayaking.

Bubbles on the water from the swells breaking on the outer islands.

Picturesque white shell beach.

Wolf Beach

Since Jason and I have been making lots of tortillas, we decided to get a bag of corn flour while at Shearwater, and also looked up a corn-flour tortilla recipe.  Today we decided to try it, and were very disappointed.  We can only figure that the type of corn flour that we got is not the type of corn flour that the recipe required.  I did not realize that there were different types of corn flour, but I am left to assume that there is, and since we currently are in a location with no internet, we are not able to find out for sure.  

The dough was supposed to form into a cohesive ball, but even after trying a little more water and then a little more flour to try both ends of the moisture spectrum, we could not get the tortillas to hold together.  It was disappointing, we tried frying up one as best as we could make it, and it even tasted terrible.  We threw out the batch, and made regular flour tortillas instead.  

After a delicious dinner of oven-baked butternut squash with brown sugar glaze, rice, and fried salmon beautifully seasoned with butter, garlic, dill, chillies, and some other spices, we all hopped into Kiki with mugs of hot chocolate, and went out to one of the little channels between the islands to watch the sunset.  We tied ourselves off to a large piece of bull kelp, and sat perfectly positioned to watch a spectacular sunset.  It was one of those sunsets where the full size and shape and glowing orange colour of the sun was really visible, and we watched as it set over the horizon of the open Pacific Ocean.  As it sunk down it almost appeared to squish and become an oval as it dropped out of sight.  What a beautiful night!!

August 26th (Monday)

In the morning we checked our jars of salmon and found that all 16 had successfully sealed.  Yay!!  We labelled them, and put them away.  

Afterwards we made up a batch of potato salad, and also a batch of tortillas.  Once we had packed up all of the components to our dinner beach-picnic we left them in the fridge until later, and had some salmon-egg caviar on toast.  Delicious!! 

Mom and Dad took the kayaks, and J and I took Kiki over to Wolf Beach with our picnic supplies.  

We got a fire going on the beach.  It was in the same fire pit that Jason and I had had our last beach fire at, and our wiener sticks were still there.  

We added a second bench seat for our company, and enjoyed the beautiful view.  

My Mom gave me a much-needed haircut and it was the most beautiful location for a hair salon, with the beach and ocean as my view. 

We had a lovely dinner of roasted sausages on wraps with cabbage and onions, potato salad, and fire-cooked corn.

Our picnic spread.

The corn turned out great!  We left the husks on the corn and also wrapped it in tinfoil, and then created an oven in the sand by slightly burying some coals, resting the corn on top, covering the corn over with sand, putting a second layer of coals on top, and then burying the whole thing.  We let this steam through for an undetermined amount of time, and then did a final cooking over the coals in the fire, keeping the cobs moving all of the time so as to not allow any one spot to burn.  We then rested the cobs on a cedar plank by the fire to keep them warm, and we pealed back the husks when we were ready to indulge.  

Roasted corn resting on the cedar wood beside the fire.

After the sun had set and it was getting dark, Mom and Dad headed home in the kayaks, and J and I stayed a little while longer on the beach by the fire.  We were visited by a super cute mouse who was not shy at all.  We gave him a handful of chopped cabbage, which he seemed to enjoy.  

Just as it was finally dark, and we were thinking about heading home, Jason and I started to see the crashing waves glowing.  We went down to the water’s edge and were in for such a treat, the phosphorescence was absolutely spectacular.  

As the waves crested and crashed ashore, it lit up, glowing green, and we watched as the colour travelled down the beach as the wave crashed in.  Ripples that ricocheted off the shore glowed green as they travelled away.  

Standing in the shallows we could create our own “aurora borealis” by kicking our feet through the water or stomping our feet.  As the water retreated, and left the sand wet, we could leave glowing footprints or designs in the sand.  Each time the waves washed away and we watched, there appeared a spectacular meteor shower of lights shooting away from the shore. 

When we finally decided that we really should get home before it got pitch black, although we could have spent hours watching nature’s spectacular fireworks display, we pushed off in the tender and started rowing into deeper water.  Each paddle stroke was a burst of green glowing activity swirling past us.  As we got the engine running and puttered along our wake was alight in the night.  It was phenomenal!!!  

Back at home Mom and Dad had also just arrived, and had had a fantastic paddle home!  We got them to turn on our spreader lights, lights that point downward at the boat from the spreaders, and got some good night pictures of our boat.  It was a fantastic ending to a great day!

The Red Witch at night with the spreader lights on.

(Unfortunately none of the movies or pictures taken of the phosphorescence showed the effects.)